HEARTBREAKING: BBC presenter was found de@d at home aged 34 after battle with ‘extremely rare’ disease
The broadcaster spent his professional career working at the BBC.
Christopher Price was found de@d at his home in 2002 (Image: BBC)
BBC presenter Christopher Price was tragically found de@d in his home aged 34 in April 2002. Price, who had presented the BBC entertainment news show Liquid News from May 2000, had fallen ill with an ear infection in the days before his death. When he failed to turn up for work, a colleague went to his flat in central London and discovered his body.
Although there was initially speculation that he had died from a drug overdose after prescription drugs were found at his flat, it was later determined that the substances were not connected to his death. Price’s cause of death was determined to be heart failure brought on by meningoencephalitis – an “extremely rare” condition that had likely spread from his ear infection.
Price left Reading University with a degree in languages before kickstarting his broadcasting career as a journalist on a BBC local radio station.
He joined BBC Radio Five Live’s start up team in 1994, working as a senior broadcast journalist and stand-in presenter for three years.
He transitioned to television in 1997 as part of the launch team on BBC News 24. There, he served as an evening presenter and newsreader.
He was deemed a “rising star” by BBC bosses, who signed him on a a £250,000 two-year deal in 2001, reports The Guardian.
Price was surprised by his success, telling an interviewer that year: “I am a fat, bald homosexual – not ideal television material at all.”
Price was due to host a week-long series of programmes for the BBC from the Eurovision Song Contest in Estonia the month after his death.
A tribute to Price was broadcast on BBC CHOICE on April 23, 2002.
Following his tragic passing, Stuart Murphy, the then-controller of BBC Choice, said: “Christopher was a unique broadcaster, with enormous passion and potential. His death will sadden everyone who knew him. His acerbic wit and boundless cheek made him an absolute pleasure to watch, and an entertaining friend.”
Lorraine Heggessey, the former controller of BBC1, added: “He clearly had a bright future and in a short space of time had established himself as a strong individual voice.”
